Determinants of social functioning among adolescents and young adults with cancer: A systematic review.

OBJECTIVES: Survivors of adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer report deficits in social functioning relative to healthy peers. Identifying factors related to their social functioning is critical to improve their long-term social outcomes. This review addressed: (1) How is social functioning defined and measured among studies of AYAs who have had cancer? (2) What factors have quantitatively/qualitatively are associated with/predictors of social functioning? and (3) What associated factors/predictors of social functioning are modifiable and amenable to intervention? METHODS: A systematic review was conducted to identify publications from 2000 to 2021, meeting these criteria: (1) mean/median age at diagnosis/treatment 13-40, (2) assessed social functioning with a validated measure and included factors associated with/predictive of social functioning and/or qualitatively assessed young people's perceptions of factors related to their social functioning and (3) was peer-reviewed/published in English. RESULTS: Thirty-seven publications were included. Definitions and measures of social functioning varied, and factors related to social functioning varied based on definition. Factors most commonly associated with decreased social functioning included treatment status (receiving or completed treatment), poor physical functioning, depression, negative body image, engaging in social comparisons, social/cultural stigma around cancer, and fatigue. Increased social functioning was most commonly associated with social support and the quality/age-appropriateness of care. CONCLUSIONS: Social functioning is multidimensional construct for AYAs diagnosed with cancer and may not be adequately assessed with measures of adjustment or quality of life. Future studies should clarify how to optimally define and measure social functioning in this population, to ensure their functioning can be protected and promoted long-term.

School and educational support programmes for paediatric oncology patients and survivors: A systematic review of evidence and recommendations for future research and practice.

OBJECTIVES: The Psychosocial Standards of Care (PSSC) in paediatric oncology prescribe the minimum standards for education support. It is unknown, however, if published education support programmes for children with cancer meet the PSSC standards for education support. Successful implementation of standards for education support is challenging but may be achieved with guidance. We aimed to (1) review education support programmes for childhood cancer patients and survivors against the PSSC standards and (2) provide practical recommendations for future research and implementation of education support programmes. METHODS: We searched PsycINFO, PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE, and Educational Resources Information and Center databases. We reviewed the education support programmes using five evaluation criteria derived from the PSSC and summarised the structure of identified programmes. We examined the features and limitations of programmes that met all evaluation criteria. RESULTS: We identified 20 education support programmes in paediatric oncology, including peer programmes (n = 3), teacher programmes (n = 5), and school re-entry programmes (SRPs n = 12). We found that three SRPs met all evaluation criteria and that SRP components were timed according to the child's position on the cancer trajectory (e.g., diagnosis and treatment, school re-entry, and follow up throughout schooling). The supporting evidence of the programmes, however, is unclear due to the lack of adequately designed studies. CONCLUSIONS: SRPs provide a promising structure for future education support programmes. We recommend strategies for developing and evaluating education support that adheres to the PSSC and adapts to international and local contexts.

Pediatric psycho-oncology in Russia: Caregiver mental health and sleep outcomes on the oncology wards.

OBJECTIVES: Caregivers are at risk of poor sleep and elevated distress during their child's cancer treatment. Russia is currently underrepresented in the international psycho-oncology field, with no identified psychosocial standards of care, and limited or inconsistent psychological service provision, particularly for caregivers. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of Russian caregivers' psychological distress and identify factors associated with caregiver sleep duration when staying on the pediatric oncology ward. METHODS: We recruited 74 caregivers of children with cancer and 74 comparison caregivers in Rostov-on-Don, Russia. Participants completed a survey assessing clinical outcomes, sleep (St Mary's Hospital Sleep Questionnaire), and psychological distress (Depression Anxiety Stress Scales-21 [DASS-21]). RESULTS: Caregivers of children with cancer reported significantly higher scores for all DASS-21 subscales and higher depression (48.6% vs. 24.6%), anxiety (47.3% vs. 12.3%), and stress (45.9% vs. 0%) scores from "moderate" to "extremely severe." Caregivers of children with cancer reported significantly shorter sleep duration (5.82 vs. 7.49 h, t[143] = -6.22, p = 0.002), more night-time awakenings (3.20 vs. 1.25, t[135] = 6.94, p < 0.001) and worse sleep quality (46.5% vs. 9.6%; x2 [1] = 24.4, p < 0.001) than comparison caregivers. Caregivers with a higher total DASS-21 score (B = -1.32, p = 0.032) and those who were closer to diagnosis (B = -1.53, p = 0.012) reported shorter sleep duration. CONCLUSIONS: Russian caregivers of children with cancer experience high rates of psychological distress and poor sleep on the oncology ward. These findings provide an important target for future research and culturally relevant clinical interventions to improve caregivers' mental health and capacity for care.

School students with chronic illness have unmet academic, social, and emotional school needs.

Students with chronic illness generally have higher school needs than their healthy peers. The research to date examining school support for these needs has been limited to qualitative methods. We collected quantitative data to compare the school needs and supports received by 192 students with chronic illness and 208 students without chronic illness using parent-completed surveys. We assessed school experiences and receipt of school support across academic, social-emotional, and medical domains and school attendance. We analyzed the data using logistic regression. Students with chronic illness were 3.8 times more likely to have repeated a grade, 3.6 times more likely to have parent-reported academic challenges, and 4.9 times more likely to have recent illness-related school absenteeism than healthy students. Parents of students with chronic illness were 2.2 times more likely to report their child to have moderate-high emotional distress, and 4.6 times more likely to report that their child had low social confidence compared with parents of healthy students. Students with chronic illness did not receive more school-based tutoring, home-based tutoring, or support from a teacher's aide or school psychologist than healthy students. Students with chronic illness receive insufficient support to address their academic and social-emotional needs or high rates of school absenteeism. Evidence-based educational services must be developed and delivered to meet the needs of students with chronic illness at school and while recovering at home. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Facilitating engagement with school in students with chronic illness through positive education: A mixed-methods comparison study.

Students with chronic illness may disengage from school, adversely affecting their school outcomes. Positive education targets students' social-emotional well-being (school well-being), which can increase engagement with school. We compared the relationship among positive educational practices, school well-being, and engagement with school as reported by parents of students with and without chronic illness. We used a convergent mixed-methods cross-sectional design. We collected data from 215 parents of school-age children with chronic illness and 212 parents of children without chronic illness. Data assessed positive educational practices, school well-being, and engagement with school, which we analyzed using regression and structural equation models. Forty-nine parents of students with chronic illness completed a telephone interview about their child's school experiences, which we analyzed using content analysis. School well-being was significantly lower among students with chronic illness, compared with students without chronic illness (p = .05). Higher student well-being (p ≤ .001) and higher levels of positive educational practices (p = .002) were associated with higher engagement with school. School well-being mediated the relationship between positive educational practices and engagement with school for students with chronic illness but not students without chronic illness. Parents of children with chronic illness described how positive educational practices and their child's school well-being promoted their child's engagement with school. Parents also reported the negative consequences of low school well-being. Positive educational practices alone may not be sufficient to increase engagement with school in students with low school well-being. Combined preventative and early intervention psychosocial support may best promote engagement with school in students with chronic illness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

What goes where? Eye tracking reveals spatial relational memory during infancy.

Episodic memory involves binding components of an event (who, what, when, and where) into a relational representation. The ability to encode information about the relative locations of objects (i.e., spatial relational memory) is a key component of episodic memory. Here we used eye tracking to test whether infants and toddlers learn about the spatial relations among objects. In Experiment 1, 9-, 18-, and 27-month olds were familiarized with an array of three objects. Following familiarization, they saw test arrays in which two of the objects had been replaced with novel ones (object switch condition) and arrays in which two of the objects had switched positions (location switch condition). Both 18- and 27-month olds looked significantly longer than would be predicted by chance at the objects that had switched spatial locations; however, 9-month olds did not. In Experiment 2, we showed that, given sufficient familiarization time, 9-month olds were also capable of detecting disruptions to the spatial relations among an array of objects. These results have important implications for our understanding of spatial relational memory development.